Note: The case was transferred to county court on Sept. 18 and the charge reduced to a misdemeanor battery.
Kahtrynn Ann Stephanopoulos, a 34-year-old resident of Berrybush Street in the Mondex, or Daytona North, west of Bunnell, was arrested and charged with felony child abuse in an incident that took place at a bus stop last week. She is accused of joining rather than stopping a fight between her daughter and another teenage girl as students on the bus looked on, bellowed, cheered and taunted, and at least one of them took video of the whole scene. (See below.)
The confrontation took place at the intersection of Mahogany Boulevard and Honeytree Street almost immediately after students were let off the school bus that stopped there on its afternoon run from Flagler Palm Coast High School on Aug. 14.
At least one student still on the bus took a nearly three-minute video of the confrontation on his phone (the voice closest to the cell phone, often cheering, was that of a boy), as the bus idled for the duration of the fight. The bus driver reported the fight to the Sheriff’s Office. The boy taking the video was aware enough that a fight was coming: he had trained his video to the right side of the bus even before the girls appeared. He kept his camera eye steady throughout. “Whatever you do, do not move your head,” he tells someone at one point, “I’m recording perfectly,” an arresting example of social media self-awareness.
Based on the video footage, Stephanopoulos was waiting for the bus at the stop. Her daughter had informed her by text from the bus before it arrived that she was getting into a confrontation with another girl. The two students were arguing on the bus and agreed to fight once they were dropped off, to the point that one of the girls put up her hair in a ponytail in preparation. The two girls had been friends over summer break, but had a falling out.
The video shows the two girls getting off the bus, dropping their bags, standing face to face and arguing briefly, as Stephanopoulos stands by her car a few feet away, in shade, looking on. One of the girls, Ronda, pushes Rousey, the other (those are not their real names), who immediately starts throwing slaps and punches. It is just five seconds before Stephanopoulos gets involved, grabbing Rousey around the waist as Ronda continues to throw punches at Rousey. Stephanopoulos and Rousey end up on the ground, Ronda punching and kicking Rousey before Jean, Rousey’s sister, gets involved in an apparent attempt to wrestle the adult off her sister, only for Ronda to then throw punches at Jean.
Jean desists from the wrestling Stephanopolous and Rousey and starts fighting with Ronda, putting her in a headlock and trying to wrestle her to the ground as an idiot on the bus yells, “America!” and another idiot goes “hell, yeah” repeatedly. The sequence is a credit neither to those Flagler Palm Coast High School students nor to the human race. Jean and Ronda end up wrestling on the ground, a couple of feet away from Stephanopoulos and Rousey, who are still locked in struggle. Stephanopoulos is twice Rousey’s age.
A minute into the confrontation, Jean and Ronda separate. Stephanopoulos and Rousey are still on the ground, with Jean as if standing guard to keep Ronda from going back to attacking Rousey. Another person wanders around the wrestling pair, showing no sign of wanting to stop them. Only then yet another person appears and more assertively separates Stephanopoulos and Rousey, who are back on their feet by then. But he and the other person than walk away. As soon as they do, Rousey reapproaches Stephanopolous, and in this case appears to be the aggressor, throwing a punch or a slap at Stephanopolous, who makes a gesture as if pointing somewhere.
The belligerents separate. Ronda puts her shoes back on. Students on the bus yell out, “her mom’s going to prison,” one of them yelling that out to Ronda, another making a fool of himself with taunting and misogynistic insults. Stephanopolous walks back to the area where the confrontation took place to pick up something she must’ve lost and walks back to her car, addressing Rousey and her sister one last time with curt gestures before getting in her car and driving away. The video stops to the sound of a boy saying he got “crystal clear” footage.
Stephanopolous ended up seeking medical care for her bruises. She told deputies she was unable to open her jaw for several days. The students were suspended–one of them was arrested–sooner than Stephanopolous was arrested. That took place after sheriff’s deputies secured the “crystal clear” video.
“Instead of deescalating the situation, we have a mother who joined in the fray, setting a bad example for her child and those at the bus stop,” Sheriff Rick Staly was quoted as saying in a release. “She certainly won’t receive mother of the year with her actions. Parents need to set the example and not be part of the problem. Luckily, no one was seriously injured, but now a mother is facing serious charges for losing control of her temper.”
In an interview with deputies, Stephanopolous told them that she had gone to the bus as deterrence, to prevent the fight, but that her presence there did not have the desired effect. (In the video, there appears to be no attempt on Stephanopolous’s part to intercede between the two girls before punches are thrown.) But she “expressed her regret and embarrassment about the entire incident,” her arrest report states.
The arrest report states she was arrested on a charge of aggravated child abuse, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison. In the court file, Stephanopolous is charged with felony child abuse, a third-degree felony. She spent spent a night in jail and posted bail on $10,000 bond.
The dude says
Thank you for the affirmation that moving my child the hell out of this shithole of a county was one of the best life choices we could make.
She spent her 6th grade year at ITMS keeping her head down in the halls to avoid ending up a video like this.
Ridiculous says
Parenting has gone down hill creating the downward spiral of society, generation after generation. This “mother” is ridiculous fighting kids and the kids now are so disrespectful and nasty, just listen to the kids on the bus. There is no discipline, no consequences for any of their behavior. The adult had no business jumping in unless it was to seperate and deescalate period. The problem with these girls/boys thinking they are grown putting hands on adults then boohoo, it’s child abuse once that adult swings back. So we have child abuse and elder abuse, what about those between the age of 18-65, its still abuse, adult abuse and a child that puts their hands on adult should be charged. In this case assault and battery for both. Wanna play adults then you get the adult consequence too! See how grown they are. Parents really need to do better with their own actions/behaviors and teach their kids better. Flagler County is becoming Dirtona quick!
Ken smith says
The kids on the bus are so immature
no no says
FLORIDA WOMAN!!!!!!!!
PC talks says
It shocks me beyond I can comprehend, the reactions of humans who cheer on or engage in hurtful acts like these. All those kids with all those phones and nobody thought about calling 911 right away. Adults supporting rage and aggression. Zero empathy or concern or if there was any, no action. It’s worse than a pandemic. I don’t know anymore if I should keep using school transportation for my kid. Way too much confrontation happening there way too often.
David Schaefer says
So glad that we could not have any children and had to deal with this B.S. every day…
Atwp says
No guns during the fight what a miracle. Thank God for that.
Brian says
Whooping it up in the beautiful Mondex!
jenn jenn says
If it were not for the video …it would have been she said, she said, she said and she said. The video actually helped to prosecute this punk mother.
Charles says
This is what is wrong in our country right now parents that are poor examples to their children. And the language coming out of that boys mouth is disgusting.
Rita says
Lets be honest, while the mom was in the wrong, if this had happened anywhere else it would have been a gang of girls and a gang of girls and a gang of mothers not just the one. and possibly guns too.
PeachesMcGee says
Bubba was on his way in the 4-wheeler. Hold on Ethyl!
Jim says
All these comments about how bad the kids and schools here are seem a little over the top to me. I went to a relatively small school and high school in a small town 50 years ago and we had this kind of stuff going on then. It’s nothing new. One I remember was parents throwing a drinking party for high school kids one weekend. Didn’t end well for the kids or the parents. I’ve seen a parent take on a coach because he didn’t like the way his son was being used during games. This kind of stupidity has been going on for years.
I don’t condone what this mother did. I expect she’ll get a stiff penalty of some type and she will deserve it. I feel for her child because she’s growing up with such a screwed up view of right and wrong that she’s sure to have more problems as she gets older. And that, unfortunately, is why this garbage behavior continues generation after generation.
This area is not the child criminal capital of the state or nation. It seems to have the same kind of issues in this regard as you’ll find almost everywhere.
DMFinFlorida says
@ Charles says – you must not have been around any schools lately. We live near ITMS and a lot of kids in our neighborhood walk. That kind of language seems to be the norm rather than the exception. If my parents had caught me using anything remotely like that language I likely wouldn’t have left the house for months and had my butt smacked good. It is difficult at best in this world to properly parent kids. It was hard 20 years ago and has only gotten worse.
Laura H says
…And yet school choice is blamed as the demise of public schools
Steve says
I’m gone as well 2020. No regrets on my part.
Tom says
Obviously none of this is appropriate, for the parent, for the kids, for the kids on the bus or the bystanders that just stood by and sets a bad example all around and should not be tolerated.
JACKIE says
All the mother did was pull the girl off of her daughter and then hold her down. The girl threw punches at the adult holding her down. Hopefully the mother gets off scott free.
Kipp says
Ok I guess it’s finally time for me to speak. That “mother” put her hands on my daughter first! The video clearly shows that. As her father I am beyond proud of her for standing her ground. And to all those who said she was in the wrong for hitting that woman with the cup, again if you watch the video you can see she was trying to get to her phone and her sisters glasses behind the mother. That woman again grabbed my kids by the neck and shoved her back then a second time my daughter pointed and said I’m trying to get my things behind you, stepped up and again this 34 year old woman grabbed my 17 year old by the neck and scratched her neck this time to the point of bleeding and that’s when she busted her in the face with the cup. As far as I’m concerned it was all self defense when it comes to that woman and my juvenile kid!
Kipp says
You obviously need to look at this video again. That mother didn’t only try to pull her off. If that’s all she wanted to do then she should’ve grabbed her child not the one that wasn’t hers!